16. Chapter Sixteen - Stolen Peace
Soroush was the one who spoke first, his voice carrying an accent I couldn’t quite place.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ira.”
I frowned slightly at that, the word “finally” catching on something in my mind, but I pushed it aside and managed a smile anyway. God, it sounded like some sort of prophecy. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.”
“We will be seeing each other more often now.” There was something about the way he spoke that drew me in more than I expected, as though each word had been considered carefully before being spoken aloud.
It made sense. My ma worked for the Scarbroughs, and he was around campus. Our paths were bound to cross eventually. Still, the phrasing sent a faint shiver across my neck, as though there was something beneath it I wasn’t fully catching.
“I guess so,” I replied, though my voice came out slightly higher than I wanted.
Wanting to steer things somewhere safer before the silence stretched too long, I spoke again.
“Are you going on the trip too, Soroush?”
He hesitated just enough for me to notice.
“I cannot go this time.” Another brief pause. “I’m needed on campus.”
My mouth tipped into a small pout. “That sucks, but I totally get it. You sound like me back in high school. I never got a break. There was always something going on.”
That earned a quiet chuckle from him, warm and genuine.
“I can assure you,” he said, meeting my eyes, “we are not so different, you and I.”
I froze.
Not because it sounded threatening, but because it landed as though he knew something I didn’t. I almost asked what he meant but stopped myself. Too many people were listening. Too many eyes had quietly settled on us. Whatever he was hinting at, it clearly wasn’t meant for this table.
I leaned back in my chair, suddenly hyper-aware of everything around me. The way Culver kept watching me as though he were tracking every shift in my mood. The way Anna and Liam had gone just quiet enough to listen. The way Julius and Eunice exchanged brief looks carrying meaning without words.
Whatever Soroush had started, it wasn’t finished. It was only postponed.
The soft sound of rain tapping against the roof sliced through the tension, oddly calming. I let it pull me out of the spiral forming in my head and decided not to push anything further tonight. There was only so much strange energy I could handle in one sitting.
I turned slightly toward Culver instead. “Have you ever danced in the rain, Culver?”
He hummed, unbothered, the sound low in his chest.
“I have. Although,” he added, tilting his head slightly, “I am not much of a dancer, unless you speak of ballads.”
Of course he knew ballroom dancing. Why wouldn’t he?
“Oh, so you can dance,” I teased. “I kinda pictured you awkwardly wiggling your hands and calling it rhythm.”
A low chuckle escaped him, and my chest reacted stupidly in response.
“There is only one way to find out,” he murmured, the look in his eyes practically daring me to imagine it.
Everything he said sounded far too close to foreplay.
I had to look away before my thoughts wandered too far ahead of me.
That was when I noticed Eunice watching us. Her expression remained calm, pleasant even, but her eyes held something I couldn’t quite read. Curiosity threaded with quiet amusement, perhaps.
When she spoke, her voice stayed soft. “How is everything at school faring, dear?”
It took me a second to realize she meant me, and I straightened quickly, instinctively falling into polite conversation. “Oh, uh, it’s going about as well as I expected, honestly.”
Without thinking, my gaze flicked toward Culver, warmth slipping into my tone. “Culver’s been… really helpful. I’ll give him that.”
Eunice’s smile didn’t change, but something knowing slipped into her words.
“Culver can be a bit… careful at times,” she said, her gaze drifting briefly toward her son. “I hope you’ll look past that.”
“Careful” felt polished, a cleaner way of saying distant or guarded. I turned the word over in my head before shaking it off.
“I don’t really see Culver as quiet,” I admitted, glancing at him again. “I mean, yeah, he’s definitely antisocial on the surface, but…” I trailed off. “He’s been talkative with me, I guess.”
My voice softened near the end, and I held his gaze a second longer than I probably should have, suddenly aware of myself.
“I mentioned you to my mother,” he said quietly, his tone settling into something more serious. “I am not very talkative with most people. But you are… an exception.”
Exception.
Even knowing the only reason I was an exception was because I was my mother’s daughter, part of me still wanted to tuck the word somewhere safe. Another part recoiled instantly, reminding me how stupid I’d already felt tonight for reading too deeply into things.
Friend. Not friend. Something blurry in between.
I still didn’t know where I stood with him, and somehow that uncertainty exhausted me more than anything else. I rubbed my thumb along the edge of my sleeve, grounding myself in the texture before my thoughts could spiral again.
Julius spoke up then, his voice slicing neatly through the tension.
“Dinner was lovely,” he said calmly, “but I believe it is time to end early this evening. We depart for Ireland first thing in the morning.”
“Ireland?” I blurted, surprise slipping out raw and unfiltered. My head snapped toward Culver.
Of course, these people casually vacationed in castles.
He nodded, measured as always. “Yes—”
“Caerwyn Castle!” Anna cut in before he could finish, clapping her hands together as though she were already there.
It sounded straight out of a fantasy novel.
Liam leaned closer to her with a crooked smile. “Yes, and remember the last time you decided to play hide-and-seek?”
Anna laughed and nudged him.
“And you took your time finding me in that enormous castle,” she said before leaning in to steal a kiss that definitely did not need an audience. “When you finally did…”
I looked away before my face betrayed me, heat creeping across my cheeks. I told myself it wasn’t jealousy. It was discomfort. Definitely that. Still, the intimacy settled strangely in my chest, a reminder that this family shared a history stretching far beyond anything I could touch.
I turned back to Culver instead, folding my arms loosely just to give myself something to do.
“So… how many times have y’all been to Ireland?”
He paused as though sifting through memories rather than answering a simple question.
“Too many times to count. Mother loves it there. Each visit, we explore a different region. It would be dreadfully boring to always return to the same city.” He tilted his head slightly. “But Caerwyn… it has been some time since we visited.”
Meanwhile, I was still emotionally recovering from airport snack prices.
“Sounds beautiful,” I murmured despite myself, letting the image settle anyway: rolling green hills, old stone walls, places that seemed to cling to their stories whether you listened or not.
“It is one of the many places you will travel,” he said suddenly.
My stomach flipped at the certainty in his tone, and I turned toward him, surprise written plainly across my face.
“No, no… I highly doubt that,” I said quickly, already pushing myself up from my chair as I noticed my ma standing too.
But he stood as well, his presence filling the space in a way that made breathing feel strangely difficult.
“You will, though,” he said simply, as though it wasn’t something requiring discussion. “Just as you will visit a plethora of other countries… with me, of course.”
There it was again. That strange edge in him I still couldn’t fully name. Not quite affection. Not quite possession. Just enough to tighten something painfully in my chest.
Friends weren’t supposed to sound that way.
I let out a slow breath, exhausted by feelings I no longer had the energy to untangle tonight.
“All right, mister,” I said, forcing a lighter tone as I placed a hand against his chest, mostly to remind myself to keep some distance. “Time to say goodbye.”
Before my emotional stability dissolved completely.
He didn’t move, and my hand stayed there, the energy beneath the fabric buzzing sharply against my palm. His eyes dropped briefly to where I touched him, and I pulled my hand back quickly, heat rushing into my face.
“A-anyway—”
He leaned forward, entering my space faster than I could process.
“Culver—Hey, I need personal spa—” I squeaked when his arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a hug before I could finish.
One second I had my space back, and the next, I was surrounded by him completely.
No one in the room stopped him, not even my own mother.
His hands settled against me, fingers brushing exposed skin while my body betrayed me, softening into his touch despite every warning in my head.
Keeping my breathing steady became nearly impossible.
His breath skimmed my ear, and I heard him inhale sharply as though he were smelling my hair again.
Ugh. Culver was the biggest pervert I’d ever met.
The problem was that I liked it far too much.
My thoughts tangled tighter when his hand slid lower over my ass, and I clenched my fingers into the fabric of his hoodie.
“Culver—Where do you think—” I whispered harshly, feeling every slow movement of his fingers against the curve of me.
Just as I started overheating beneath all of it, he hummed softly. “Ah, there we are.”
The pressure of his body vanished as quickly as it had arrived. He stepped back holding my phone, already tapping through the screen while I stood there trying to recover.
I huffed, still painfully aware of the lingering electricity of him against me mixed with that intoxicating cologne. My body reacted as though he’d done far more than hug me, which was humiliating enough on its own.
“You—” I dragged in a breath, crossing my arms over my chest. “You could’ve just asked me!”
He fluttered his lashes at me, and my stomach flipped stupidly in response.